Examples of relevant action by Parties include a project in Mali to promote the use by farmers of
meteorological information in planning and managing agricultural activities and the work by the
Drought/Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Centre and Flood Forecasting Divisions in Pakistan
(FCCC/SBSTA/2008/3. Many other examples of action by Parties on data and observations are found in
FCCC/SBSTA/2007/MISC.23)

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), a Centre of Excellence providing forecasts,
climate change policy advice and guidelines to the Caribbean Community Member States, has undertaken
several adaptation projects which include strengthening the climate impacts-monitoring network and
generating climate projection scenarios. http://www.caricom.org/jsp/community/ccccc.jsp?menu=community

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is working jointly with the WCRP and WMO on a proposal for a
programme of three interlinked regional workshops to address the need for regional observations and climate
modelling in support of adaptation. These workshops would assess, among other things, the adequacy of
regional observations and models and provide advice on how model outputs could best be used to develop
adaptation strategies. A pilot project on climate observations and regional modelling in support of climate
risk management and sustainable development is under way for the Eastern African region, with the aim of
enhancing regional capacity in the use of data and model projections, including understanding of
limitations, for adaptation planning. http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/index.php?name=unfccc

FAO’s Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) is a programme for observation, modelling and
analysis of terrestrial ecosystems to support sustainable development, facilitating access to information
on terrestrial ecosystems; cooperation between exsiting initiatives; and promoting the harmonization of
measurement methods and data processing. Four expert groups on coastal, climate, terrestrial carbon, and
forest and land cover dynamics aim to promote regional and global datasets and facilitate the synthesis of
globally consistent data. They also contribute to the identification of key variables for the Terrestrial
Ecosystem Monitoring Sites database. http://www.fao.org/gtos

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Data Distribution Centre (DDC) offers access to
baseline and scenario data for representing the evolution of climatic, socio-economic and other
environmental conditions, and offers guidance on its application for impacts, vulnerability and adaptation
assessments. Further guidance concerning sea level scenarios, socio-economic scenarios, and the analysis of
observed impacts is expected to be produced in the near future. http://www.ipcc-data.org The DDC is coordinated by the Task Group on Data
and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA), which also identifies information needs in
support of IPCC work, facilitates research on climate impacts, adaptation, and mitigation, and makes
related recommendations on cross-cutting issue. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1_tgica.html

The Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) collects long-term socioeconomic and biophyisical data in
Northern, Western and Eastern Africa. http://www.oss-online.org

The global System for Analysis, Research and Training (START) activities on climate change data and
observations include the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG), which is developing a database of long-term
weather observations across sub-Saharan Africa, and the Temperate East Asia START Regional Center
(TEA-START), which maintains climatological data for the monsoon Asia region. Efforts on capacity
improvement include the Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation to Climate Change (AIACC) and work with NASA
to facilitate the participation of developing country scientists in the Global Observation of Forest and
Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD) project. http://www.start.org/Program/vuladap.html

The Water Centre for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) maintains the
Regional Visualization and Monitoring System with support from NASA and USAID, on forest fires, disaster
management and adaptation planning. http://www.cathalac.org

The joint CCI/CLIVAR/JCOMM Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI), part of the
World Climate Research Programme (WRCP), provides practical guidance on the homogenization of climate data,
and helps organize collaboration on climate change detection and indices and encouraging the comparison of
modelled data and observations. http://cccma.seos.uvic.ca/ETCCDI

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) action includes data rescue activities, annual statements on
the status of global climate, the World Weather Watch System and regional weather watch, and making IPCC
Model Data “backbone” publicly available. The WMO is also engaged in dissemination of software
to SIDS and LDCs to assist in reporting to UNFCCC and IPCC and building capacity of LDCs and SIDS to use
IPCC model data. http://www.wmo.ch/pages/themes/WMO_climatechange_en.html